2013–14 Houston Cougars men's basketball team

The 2013–14 Houston Cougars men's basketball team represented the University of Houston during the 2013–14 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The season marked the first for the Cougars as members of the American Athletic Conference. The team, coached by James Dickey in his fourth year, played their home games at Hofheinz Pavilion. They finished the season 17–16, 8–10 in conference play to finish in sixth place. They advanced to the semifinals of the American Conference tournament where they lost to Louisville.

2013–14 Houston Cougars men's basketball
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Record	17–16 (8–10 The American)
Head coach	James Dickey (4th season)
Associate head coach	Alvin Brooks
Assistant coaches	Johnny Estelle Ronnie Hamilton
Home arena	Hofheinz Pavilion
Seasons ← 2012–13 2014–15 →

2013–14 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 5 Louisville* †	15	–	3		.833			31	–	6		.838
No. 15 Cincinnati	15	–	3		.833			27	–	7		.794
No. 18 UConn	12	–	6		.667			32	–	8		.800
SMU	12	–	6		.667			27	–	10		.730
Memphis	12	–	6		.667			24	–	10		.706
Houston	8	–	10		.444			17	–	16		.515
Rutgers	5	–	13		.278			12	–	21		.364
UCF	4	–	14		.222			13	–	18		.419
Temple	4	–	14		.222			9	–	22		.290
South Florida	3	–	15		.167			12	–	20		.375
† The American Tournament winner As of March 15th, 2014 *Louisville: 29 reg. season games, 3 postseason games vacated due to sanctions against the program; Disputed Record-(31-6)(15-3) Rankings from AP poll

After the season, Dickey stepped down for personal reasons.^[1] He was 64–62 in four seasons, and was replaced by Kelvin Sampson.

Pre-season

The Cougars' off-season had been defined primarily by the number of departures from the program. On May 14, the school announced that it had granted permission to sophomore point guard J. J. Thompson to transfer to another school. No reason was given.^[2] Ten days later, the school announced that four-star 2012 class recruit Valentine Izundu was also granted release from the program. Like Thompson, no reason why given for Izundu's departure, but it was noted that he had seen very limited playing time in his previous season as a freshman.^[3] However, one month after announcing his leave, Izundu decided to return. In his statement, he apologized to Coach Dickey and teammates and mentioned that he made a mistake in leaving the team.^[4] On June 1, the program announced that Michael Young, former Cougar player and Phi Slama Jama member during the 1980–84 seasons, would not be retained as Director of Basketball Operations. Young was offered a reassignment in the program, but refused it and decided to leave the school. As a result, his son Joe Young, the Cougars' leading scorer during the 2012–13 season also decided to leave the program^[5] and transfer to Oregon.^[6]

Despite the departures, the Cougars were still able to build by signing Ohio Player of the Year and three-star recruit Jaaron Simmons. The point guard out of Archbishop Alter High School signed a national letter of intent on April 18, choosing the Cougars over Butler and Dayton, among others.^[7] Simmons mentioned that the opportunity to play with standout players Danuel House, Joe Young, and TaShawn Thomas helped in his decision to sign with Houston.^[8] In June, former Baylor guard L. J. Rose announced his transfer to Houston to be closer to his mother who had been diagnosed with lupus. Rose was ranked 63rd in the ESPN100 Class of 2012 and 9th at guard. The Cougars applied for a waiver to the NCAA to allow Rose to play for the team immediately, and the waiver was granted on August 20.^[9] The third offseason addition to the Cougars was 6'9" Egyptian-born post player Ahmed Hamdy, who had international experience at the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship with the Egyptian national team.^[10]

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Joe Young	0	G	6'3"	185	Sophomore	Houston, Texas	Left program when father Michael was not retained as Director of Basketball Operations; transferred to Oregon
J. J. Thompson	3	G	6'0"	185	Sophomore	Irving, Texas	Granted release to transfer to another school
Leon Gibson	15	F	6'9"	245	Senior	Los Angeles, California	Graduated

Incoming transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
L. J. Rose		G	6'4"	190	Sophomore	Houston, Texas	Transferred from Baylor

Class of 2013 signees

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Jaaron Simmons PG	Kettering, Ohio	Archbishop Alter HS	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	Mar 31, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: 78
Ahmed Hamdy C	Alexandria, Egypt	Trent Internationale (Sugar Land, Texas)	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	255 lb (116 kg)	Jun 20, 2013
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A   Rivals: N/A   247Sports: N/A    ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR   Rivals: NR  ESPN: NR
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Houston Basketball Commitment List". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013. "2013 Houston Basketball Commitment List". Scout.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013. "2013 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 2, 2013.

Roster

2013–14 Houston Cougars men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown F 0 Danrad Knowles 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 190 lb (86 kg) RS So Houston, Texas F 1 Mikhail McLean 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) RS Jr Houston, Texas G 2 Brandon Morris 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Alexandria, Louisiana G 3 Jaaron Simmons 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Fr Dayton, Ohio G 4 LeRon Barnes 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 195 lb (88 kg) RS So Stonewall, Louisiana G 5 L.J. Rose 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) So Houston, Texas G 12 Jimmy Jones 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 160 lb (73 kg) RS Sr Plano, Texas G 14 Tione Womack 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Baltimore, Maryland F 20 Adam Drexler 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 205 lb (93 kg) So Houston, Texas G 21 Jherrod Stiggers 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS So Terrell, Texas G 23 Danuel House 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Sugar Land, Texas G 24 Lawrence Paye 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Sr Houston, Texas C 25 Ahmed Hamdy 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 255 lb (116 kg) Fr Alexandria, Egypt F 35 TaShawn Thomas 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Jr Killeen, Texas C 45 Valentine Izundu 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 215 lb (98 kg) So Houston, Texas F 55 J.J. Richardson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 245 lb (111 kg) RS Sr Missouri City, Texas	Head coach James Dickey (Central Arkansas) Assistant coach(es) Alvin Brooks (Lamar) Johnny Estelle (Texas A&M-Kingsville) Ronnie Hamilton (Duke) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: 2013-11-17

Schedule and results

On May 21, the Cougars participation as one of the four hosts in the 2013 Legends Classic alongside Pittsburgh, Stanford, and Texas Tech was announced. Houston hosted a pair of regional round games between November 17–21, and then traveled to Brooklyn to participate in the championship round with the other four hosts on November 25–26 at the Barclays Center.^[11]

The Cougars' 2013-14 schedule was announced on August 21, featuring 17 home games. The schedule's highlights included round-robin play against the other nine American Athletic Conference members, the four previously-announced Legends Classic games, a road game against former Southwest Conference rival Texas A&M, and a neutral site matchup against crosstown rival Rice at the Toyota Center. All of Houston's 18 conference games and the two final games of the Legends Classic tournament were televised on the ESPN family of networks or CBS Sports Network.^[12]

Date time, TV	Opponent	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
Nov 5* 7:00 pm	St. Thomas	W 81–63		Hofheinz Pavilion (2,435) Houston
Non-conference regular season
Nov 8* 8:00 pm, ESPN3	Texas State	W 76–70	1–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,123) Houston
Nov 11* 7:00 pm	at Texas–Pan American	W 77–65	2–0	UTPA Fieldhouse (1,432) Edinburg, Texas
Nov 14* 7:00 pm, ESPN3	UTSA	W 80–62	3–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,800) Houston
Nov 17* 1:00 pm, ESPN3	Lehigh Legends Classic – Houston Regional Game 1	W 80–66	4–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,635) Houston
Nov 21* 7:00 pm, ESPN3	Howard Legends Classic – Houston Regional Game 2	W 75–62	5–0	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,815) Houston
Nov 25* 8:30 pm, ESPN2	vs. Stanford Legends Classic – Semifinals	L 76–86	5–1	Barclays Center (4,142) Brooklyn, New York
Nov 26* 6:00 pm, ESPN3	vs. Texas Tech Legends Classic – Consolation Game	L 64–76	5–2	Barclays Center (3,514) Brooklyn, New York
Nov 30* 7:00 pm, ESPN3	Texas A&M–Corpus Christi	W 78–67	6–2	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,015) Houston
Dec 4* 7:00 pm, ESPN3/FSN	at Texas A&M	L 57–74	6–3	Reed Arena (4,850) College Station, Texas
Dec 7* 5:00 pm, ESPN3	San Jose State	L 68–72	6–4	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,105) Houston
Dec 9* 6:30 pm, ESPN3	Alcorn State	W 89–58	7–4	Hofheinz Pavilion (2,833) Houston
Dec 14* 7:05 pm	at Louisiana–Lafayette	L 76–79 OT	7–5	Cajundome (3,069) Lafayette, Louisiana
Dec 21* 3:30 pm, CSS/CSNH	vs. Rice Lone Star Showcase	W 54–52	8–5	Toyota Center (5,907) Houston
American Athletic Conference regular season
Dec 31 8:00 pm, ESPN2	No. 17 UConn	W 75–71	9–5 (1–0)	Hofheinz Pavilion (4,035) Houston
Jan 4 3:00 pm, CBSSN	at South Florida	W 67–58	10–5 (2–0)	USF Sun Dome (3,921) Tampa, Florida
Jan 7 8:00 pm, CBSSN	Cincinnati	L 60–61	10–6 (2–1)	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,804) Houston
Jan 16 6:00 pm, CBSSN	at No. 18 Louisville	L 52–91	10–7 (2–2)	KFC Yum! Center (21,132) Louisville, Kentucky
Jan 19 12:00 pm, CBSSN	Rutgers	W 77–55	11–7 (3–2)	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,115) Houston
Jan 23 7:00 pm, ESPNews	at No. 23 Memphis	L 59–82	11–8 (3–3)	FedEx Forum (15,702) Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 26 2:00 pm, ESPNews	SMU	L 68–75	11–9 (3–4)	Hofheinz Pavilion (4,567) Houston
Jan 30 8:00 pm, CBSSN	at Connecticut	L 43–80	11–10 (3–5)	Gampel Pavilion (9,312) Storrs, Connecticut
Feb 1 3:30 pm, ESPNews	at Rutgers	L 70–93	11–11 (3–6)	The RAC (5,616) Piscataway, New Jersey
Feb 5 8:00 pm, ESPNU	No. 14 Louisville	L 62–77	11–12 (3–7)	Hofheinz Pavilion (7,247) Houston
Feb 9 1:00 pm, ESPNews	Temple	W 88–74	12–12 (4–7)	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,535) Houston
Feb 15 2:00 pm, ESPNU	at No. 10 Cincinnati	L 62–73	12–13 (4–8)	Fifth Third Arena (13,176) Cincinnati
Feb 19 7:00 pm, ESPNews	at SMU	L 64–68	12–14 (4–9)	Moody Coliseum (6,991) Dallas
Feb 22 1:00 pm, ESPNews	UCF	W 88–84	13–14 (5–9)	Hofheinz Pavilion (7,028) Houston
Feb 27 8:00 pm, CBSSN	No. 21 Memphis	W 77–68	14–14 (6–9)	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,628) Houston
Mar 1 8:00 pm, ESPNU	at Temple	W 89–79	15–14 (7–9)	Liacouras Center (3,978) Philadelphia
Mar 4 7:30 pm, ESPNews	South Florida	W 79–68	16–14 (8–9)	Hofheinz Pavilion (3,235) Houston
Mar 7 6:00 pm, CBSSN	at UCF	L 83–104	16–15 (8–10)	CFE Arena (5,471) Orlando, Florida
American Athletic Conference tournament
Mar 13 12:00 pm, ESPNU	vs. No. 25 SMU Quarterfinals	W 68–64	17–15	FedEx Forum (13,011) Memphis, Tennessee
Mar 14 6:00 pm, ESPN2	vs. No. 5 Louisville Semifinals	L 65–94	17–16	FedEx Forum (11,888) Memphis, Tennessee
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. J.J. Thompson leaving UH basketball program, Houston Chronicle, retrieved 2 June 2013
3. Lamar Consolidated center to transfer from UH, Houston Chronicle, retrieved 2 June 2013.
4. Izundu decides to return to UH, Houston Chronicle, retrieved 25 August 2013.
5. Houston leading scorer Joseph Young, and father Michael, leaving the program, NBC Sports, retrieved 2 June 2013
6. Oregon lands guard Joseph Young, ESPN.com, retrieved 25 August 2013
7. Ohio Player of the Year Jaaron Simmons Becomes First Men's Hoops Signee Archived 2013-09-22 at the Wayback Machine, UHCougars.com, retrieved 2 June 2013.
8. Simmons’ goal to ‘Keep Dayton on the rise’, Dayton Daily News, retrieved 2 June 2013.
9. Houston's L.J. Rose granted waiver, ESPN.com, retrieved 25 August 2013.
10. Ahmed Hamdy Joins Men's Basketball Archived 2013-11-27 at the Wayback Machine, UHCougars.com, retrieved 25 August 2013
11. Pittsburgh to play in Legends Classic, ESPN.com, retrieved 2 June 2013
12. Men's Basketball Announces 2013-14 Schedule Archived 2013-08-21 at the Wayback Machine, UHCougars.com, retrieved 25 August 2013